Fokker, Atlantic, Fokker-Hall,General Aviation

1923: Atlantic Aircraft Corp, Teterboro and Wheeling WV, on obtaining a government contract to modify De Havilland DH-4s as mail planes, then as an importing agency for Fokker's Dutch designs (as Netherlands Aircraft Mfg Co of America in 1924). 1924: Absorbed Witteman-Lewis Co plant. 1926: (Anthony) Fokker Aircraft Co, Teterboro NJ. 1927: Fokker Aircraft Corp of America, Passaic NJ & Glendale WV, and Atlantic Aircraft Div, Hasbrouck Heights NJ. 1929: Became a subsidiary of General Motors as General Aviation Corp (GAC). 1930: Recapitalization by General Aviation Mfg Corp (GAMC). 1931: Ended operations because of the Depression and a much-publicized crash of an F-10 on 3/31/31 in which famed football coach, Knute Rockne, and seven others were killed. 1933: GAC assets turned over to GAMC, who also acquired Berliner-Joyce Co, then in a stock exchange became a subsidiary of North American Aviation and, subsequently, Rockwell.

NOTE: Many US Fokker products were for a time referred to as Atlantic or Atlantic-Fokker, and model designations were AF, as well as F.Historian Jos Heyman explains: Although Dutch born, Fokker got his break in Germany during WW1. In 1918 he shifted his operations to the Netherlands. Type letters for Fokker aircraft originated in the German system for designating military aircraft, but further letters were added as required (*). Letters were used in combination with a sequential design number (initially in Roman numerals) in each type letter series. Several designs were exclusively used by the Fokker subsidiary in the USA. Fokker type letters were:
B = Amphibian(*)
C = General purpose
D = Doppeldecker (Biplane Fighter), later Fighter
Dr = Dreidecker (Triplane Fighter)
E = Eindecker (Monoplane Fighter)
F = Transport aircraft(*)
G = Twin-engine fighter/bomber(*)
K = Kampfflugzeug (Fighter)
S = Trainer (*)
T = Bomber(*)
V = Versuchflugzeug (Experimental)
W = Wasserflugzeug (Flying Boat)Fokker C-2 America [NX206]7 (C-2) 1927 = 10pChwM; three 200hp Wright J-4; span: 71'3" length: 48'6" v: 116. Repowered with 220hp J-5. POP: about 25, of which 19 to AAC as C-2, three to USN/USMC as TA-1 [A7561/7563]. One gained fame as Adm Richard Byrd's transatlantic [NX206] America, others in Jan 1929 in transcontinental endurance flight as Question Mark (p: Ira Eaker, Carl Spaatz), and transpacific flight as Bird of Paradise (p: Lester Maitland, Albert Hegenberger).Fokker 11 [X449E] (Edward J Young coll)11 aka Fokker-Hall H-51 1928 = 3pChwM; 115hp Siemens-Halske. Motor options were 100hp Kinner K-5, 120hp Walter, and 90hp Cirrus. All-metal, folding-wing personal plane design about which very little was recorded; it was neither designed nor built by Fokker and might have been a contracted work as it just "showed up" one day at Teterboro for flight testing. Hall might be Charles Hall, who founded Hall-Aluminum Aircraft. POP: 1 [X449E] c/n 1100. Dismantled in 1935 by North American Corp.
12 - Redesignated as F-32.13 1928 = 2pOhwM; 80hp Anzani, later replaced by 90hp LeBlond. Somewhat similar to model 11 and Skeeter, with side-by-side cockpit, strut-braced parasol wing, fabric- covered fuselage, and also a mystery plane with no factory confirmation of its existence except the assigned c/n 1300. POP: 1 [X7283]. SEE Miller (Montclair NJ, 1928) for recent information.
14 - Redesignated as F-14.Fokker A-2 [AS64234] (USAF Museum)A-2 1923 = Aerial ambulance conversion of T-2; POP: 1 [AS64234]. Designation "A" was transferred in 1924 from "Ambulance" to "Attack" class.Fokker XA-7 [30-226] (Arthur Martin coll via WASM)A-7(General Aviation) 1930 = 2pOlwM; 600hp Curtiss V-1570 Conqueror; span: 43'11" (>46'9") length: 31'11" (>31'0") load: 1784# v: 190/184/61. All-metal attack bomber, a sharp-looking creation like right out of a "Tailspin Tommy" comic strip, with streamlined panted gear, four wing guns. It was the first monoplane designed for attack purposes. POP: 1 as XA-7 [30-226], rebuilt in 1931 with a new nose, but chronic cooling problems brought abandonment of the project.Fokker AO-1 [AS68557]
AO-1 (Model 3) aka Atlantic Observation 1924 (Fokker-Holland) = 2pOB; 420hp Liberty; span: 39'6" length: 30'4" v: 135. The wartime Fokker D.7 heritage was obvious in this Dutch-built design, included here because of its unique role in US military designations. POP: 1 for Army as a sole entry for evaluation in the original "AO" classification ("Artillery Observation") [AS68557]. After rejection in favor of the Douglas XO-2, it was modified as CO-4A, and 5 additional planes were purchased.Fokker XB-8 [29-328]B-8 1930 = 3pOhwM; two 600hp Curtiss V-1570; span: 64'0" length: 47'0" load: 3684# v: 160. POP: 1 as XB-8, modified from prototype XO-27A [29-328]; 6 contracted as YB-8, were redesignated as Y1O-27 [31-598/603].B-11 1928 = No data, likely was an F-11, but no explanation was found for the non-military "B" designation. POP: 1, custom-built for Harold S Vanderbilt of New York City [149], who was known to favor amphibians.BA-1 SEE F-7-A-3M.Fokker C-2 Maitland in Hawaii [26-202] (Eric Blocher coll)C-2(Atlantic) 1926 = Army version of Dutch-built F-VIIA/3m, repowered with three 220hp Wright R-790; span: 63'6" length: 47'6" load: 2565# v: 129/116/63 range: 355 ceiling: 15,500'. POP: 3 [26-202/204], the first of which was modified with 71'2" wing as Bird of Paradise to the first transpacific flight, Oakland-Honolulu, on 6/28/27 (p: Lts Lester Maitland, Albert Hegenberger).

Fokker F-7 (F.VIIa) Standard Airlines [NC7888] (B C Reed coll)F-7 1925 (ATC 2-34) = 10pChwM; 525hp P&W Hornet A. Dutch origin, F.VIIa assembled and modified in US; ff: 9/4/25. POP: only 1, (The Texan) for Standard Air Lines [NC7888] c/n 617, although 7 were ordered. The Fokker name was not openly used until about 1926 because of concern about the public's possible association with the notorious German fighters of WW1.

Fokker BA-1 Byrd polar flight [NX4204] (Eric Blocher coll)F-7-A-3M, BA-1 Tri-motor 1926 = F-7-A converted into Fokker's first tri-motor with three 200hp Wright J-4; load: 3260#. POP total single-engine and tri-motors: about 18, built and tested in Holland, reassembled in US, with some to USAAC as C-2, and USN as TA-1. Used by Adm Richard Byrd, as BA-1 [NX4204], in his first North Pole flight of 5/9/26interestingly, bought for him by Edsel Ford and christened in his daughter's name, Josephine Fordand by George Hubert Wilkins for polar exploration flights of 1926 (Wilkins' Liberty-powered plane was rebuilt into Kingsford-Smith's Southern Cross, aka Spirit of California in 1928 [1985=GAUSU=VHUSU]), and for many other record flights.According to a book published by the Fokker company in 1994, [NX4204] belongs to a F.VIIB-3m (Fokker c/n 5028) ordered by Byrd for his Antarctic Expedition in 1928. Because Edsel Ford donated a Tri-motor for this expedition, Byrd sold the Fokker to the Mechanical Science Corp. The plane was named the Friendship, fitted with floats and used for a transatlantic flight that made Amelia Earhart the first woman to fly (as a passenger) across the Atlantic. About a year later this plane was sold to Argentina and eventually ended up in Chile where it disappeared in the 1930s. Josephine Ford was the first F.VIIA-3m (Fokker c/n 4900), the former Fokker entry for the 1925 Ford Reliability Tour [C267].
The planes Wilkins used were an F.VIIA (c/n 4899 or 4909 with a Liberty engine, named Alaskan) and the first F.VIIB-3m (c/n 4954 with three Wright Whirlwind J-4Bs, named Detroiter).
Kingsford-Smith claimed that his plane was put together from the fuselage of Alaskan and the wing of Detroiter (Alaskan's wing was broken in a crash and never used again, the fuselage of Detroiter was badly damaged in a crash and probably ended up in North Dakota where it is still in storage somewere!) His claim can't be verified because the c/ns of the planes can't be checked, but there are several reasons to believe he spoke the truthalthough the Fokker Co book states that Southern Cross is the former Detroiter and that Alaskan ended up in North Dakota!) ( Erik Gol 9/3/02)

F-14A 1932 (ATC 2-395) = F-14 with major revisions. Rather than a modification, plane was totally redone with a cantilever top wing, enclosed pilot's cockpit moved forward of the wing, new tail design, etc. POP: 1 to Canada [X/NC844W=CFAUD].

Fokker F-32 Prototype photo-op with cosmetic UAL markings [124M] (Herbert French coll)Fokker F-32 Western Air Lines [NC334N]Fokker F-32 Fanchon & Marco dancers help Western Air Lines inaugurate the first four-engined transport at Burbank's United Air Terminal, 1930. [NC333N] (K O Eckland coll)F-32 (Model 12) 1929 (ATC 281) = 32pChwM; four 575hp P&W Hornet B tractor-pushers in tandem pairs; span: 99'0" length: 69'10" (>70'2") load: 9340# v: 146/122/47 range: 550 (>700); ff: 8/x/29 (p: Marshall Boggs). The first four-engine Fokker design in the US and the last Fokker design to be built. In keeping with Fokker's sequential numbering, it would have rightly been "F.12" as following F.11A, but honored WAL's request to number it for the seating capacity insteadimpressive in those days. Triple tails; the prototype had two tails. The largest transport of its day sported underwing-mounted motor nacelles, offered passengers their first reclining seats, two refrigerated galleys with running water, even two lavatories (sleeper version accommodated 16 passengers and crew of 5). $110,000; POP: 7 (reports of 10 were likely influenced by an order of 5 by Universal Air Lines that was canceledthe prototype briefly wore UAL markings as a sales incentive); 1 prototype [X124M]* c/n 1201, 1 for unrewarding testing by the Army as YC-20 [NC130M], 2 (5 ordered but 3 canceled) to Western Air Express [NC333N/334N] for their San Francisco-Los Angeles route, and 3 retained by the company [NC335/336N, NC342N], the final one customized as a sumptuous "air yacht" for Tony Fokker, ending its career ignobly by being converted into a house trailer in 1934 at Wheeling WV. It was destroyed in a 1937 flood. *Seen with both Western and Universal markings in some photos, but was never used in actual airline service. It crashed in a demo flight on 11/27/29 and was destroyed in an ensuing fire, but crew of two escaped with minor injuries.Atlantic XFA-1 [A-8732] (National Archives)Atlantic XFA-1 [A-8732] (USN)FA(Atlantic, General Aviation) 1932 = 1pOB; 450hp P&W R-1340C; span: 25'6" length: 22'2" (>20'3") load: 671# v: 170/x/64 range: 375. Experimental shipboard fighter with gull top wing, faired gear struts. POP: 1 as XFA-1 [A8732].FLB(General Aviation) 1931 = USCG rescue. 4pChwMAm; two 420hp P&W Wasp pushers; span: 74'2" length: 55'9". "Flying Life Boat" was based on civil F-11A design, greatly enlarged, and was the last of the American-built Fokkers. USCG-designated in 1932 as FLB-51 (briefly FLB-8) to FLB-55 after their original s/ns [51/55]. POP: 5 [251/255]. Redesignated as PJ-1/-2 (qv).FT 1921 = Built in the Netherlands, assembled in US. POP: 3 as FT-1 [A6008/6010], modified as FT-2.JA(Atlantic) 1928 = ChwM; 450hp P&W R-1340; span: 50'7" length: 36'7" v: x/133/x. Basic Fokker Super Universal was delivered to USN, but judged unacceptable for service. POP: 1 XJA-1 [A8012].Fokker XLB-2 [26-210] (Dan Shumaker coll)LB-2(Atlantic) 1928 = 5pChwM; two 525hp P&W R-1690, later R-1340*; span: 72'10" length: 51'5" v: x/123/x. Unsuccessful bomber project, an experimental twin version of C-2. POP: 1 as XLB-2 [26-210]. * Info as found; however, it seems more logical that the R-1340 was installed first.O-27(General Aviation) = 3pOmwM; two 600hp Curtiss V-1570 Conquerors; span: 64'0" length: 47'4" load: 3684# v: 160.

Fokker XO-27A (TknL coll)XO-27, -27A 1930 = POP: 2 prototypes [29-327/328], the first of which became XO-27A with geared motors, cockpit canopy, and redesigned tail group. The second was redesignated as XB-8 before completion.

Fokker PJ-2 [V-116] (W T Larkins coll)PJ-2 1933 = Was FLB-51 Antares, with modified engines and cockpit. Sent to Naval Aircraft Factory in 1933 where the engines changed direction to tractors, perhaps for testing. When it was returned to USCG, the redesign was officially designated PJ-2, and the new s/n applied in 1936. POP: 1 [251=V116].